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Social and linguistic contacts of the Hadzabe speaking people with the Sukuma people
in Maswa District (now Meatu District) in northern Tanzania have been underreported
in the existing literature, whereas the Hadzabe of eastern Tanzania have
been researched in depth. Specialists have documented that in western Tanzania, the
material culture of the Hadzabe differs significantly from what is found among their
counterparts in the eastern region; so too the regional differences between their adaptations
of kinship terms have been well documented. However, patterns of linguistic
adaptation in the naming of plants and crops have yet to be analysed. Findings from
Sungu Village in Meatu District reveal the significant influence of the Sukuma in the
Hadzabe lexicon of plants and crops. It is understandable why the names of cultivated
crops among the Hadzabe would demonstrate the Sukuma influence, since the
Sukuma farmers introduced farming amongst the Hadzabe foragers. But it is unclear
why the Hadzabe should have borrowed Sukuma names for wild plants as well, since
the Hadzabe have depended upon their local biodiversity throughout their existence
in the region, as has been documented for several decades now. We argue that despite
their recency, communities which dominate through their sheer population density,
such as the Sukuma, tend to influence the deeper lexicon of smaller communities
like Hadzabe. |
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